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Bay WindowsJanuary 10, 2008With New Hampshire joining the ranks of the civil union states this year, same-sex couples can now obtain all of the legal state benefits of marriage in four of the six New England states, either through civil unions in New Hampshire, Vermont and Connecticut or through marriage in Massachusetts. But what happens when you cross state lines? (Link)

365Gay.comJune 13, 2007The poll asked likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, "In your opinion, which one issue is most important to your vote in the presidential primary? Which is next most important? What is the third most important?" It found that the war in Iraq topped the list at 36 percent, followed by illegal immigration at 11 percent and then the economy at 9 percent. Marriage for gay and lesbian couples was 17th on the list with the number of replies too low to measure. [link]

StatelineMay 31, 2007"Civil unions are nothing like marriage," Garden State Equality Director Steven Goldstein said. "The cockamamie contraption simply doesn't work. If civil unions were a person, they would be arrested for fraud." [link]

New Hampshire Business ReviewMay 11, 2007Although ERISA preempts state laws that relate to benefits, laws relating to insurance are not preempted. As a result, it is expected that the New Hampshire Insurance Department will rule that if an employer offers medical insurance coverage for married employees, the civil union law requires the employer to offer similar coverage to those in a civil union. But employers that provide self-insured medical, dental and other benefits to employees are not subject to the same state insurance laws because ERISA does cover them. Therefore, they will not be obligated to provide the same coverage to employees in civil unions as they do to married employees — although they could do so on a voluntary basis. [link]

The SeacoastMay 2, 2007Federal rights and protections recognized worldwide, however, are not provided to gay couples. Depending on the individual states' marriage and civil union laws, or lack thereof, other states are not obligated to recognize the same rights provided by New Hampshire. "It's pretty good," said Rep. Jim Splaine, D-Portsmouth, who co-sponsored House Bill 437. "But it's not marriage." [link]

The Huffington PostApril 24, 2007Civil unions and domestic partnerships may seem fine on paper, but they just don't work in the real world. Same sex couples in New Jersey can attest to that. Of the 575 couples registered as of April 20, many have alerted the advocacy group Garden State Equality that employers and insurers are denying them protection — some 54 in all. That's a 10% rate of inadequate rights — "one of the most astonishing rates of failure for a civil rights law in our lifetime," according to Garden State Equality chair Steven Goldstein. Not to mention that those 54 are just the ones we know about. [link]